My time: 5:45, about two minutes faster than average.
Theme: GROW A SPINE. Clued as "show some courage... as this puzzle's theme can do." It's more clearly rendered as GROW A "SPINE," because the four themed Across answers end with progressively longer words that serve as sections of the word spine: I, PI, PIN, SPIN, SPINE. It's interesting that the word chain begins with the middle letter and is extended, alternately, on the left and right sides. No need to anagram!
And now, make no bones about it, it's time for the fill.
"Ferry or wherry" is BOAT. A wherry is a cargo boat meant to sail down a canal.
"Bugler in the Rockies" is ELK. This was mighty confusing to me until I found out that an elk's call is known as a bugle.
I read LIFE OF PI, but didn't see the movie. It was directed by Ang Lee.
"What a chop shot imparts" is BACKSPIN. I have a hard time parsing and even reading "chop shot." I keep reading it as cheap shot, chop shop, chip shot, etc. Is it a typo for chip shot? No, I finally find out. It's a stroke in table tennis.
LATERGRAM is one of those bits of social media slang that I can't keep up with. It's all so sus.
"Lady of Camelot" is ENID. Also known as Enide, she is the wife of Erec in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec and Enide, and that of Geraint in the Welsh Romance of Geraint and Enid, as researched on November 9, 2017.
That's it! There's nothing ELSE except to bemoan our dying democracy.
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